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Genealogy

Dinah was the daughter of Leah (The Life of Leah) and Jacob (Genesis 30:21). She had 6 full brothers—Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun—and 6 half brothers—Joseph (Joseph, son of Jacob), Benjamin, Asher, Dan, Nephtali, and Gad. The Bible doesn’t mention Jacob having any other daughters, but in Genesis 34:21, it is implied there are single, young women in Jacob’s camp that can be taken as wives. This either references servants of the family, or unnamed sisters of Dinah. In Genesis 46:15, we learn that she traveled to Egypt with the family during the famine, though we are not told if she ever married or had children.

What Happened to Dinah?

Dinah went out “to visit the daughters of the land” one day—presumably this means she went to gather with the women of her age, a girls night (or day) if you will—and while she was out, she was raped by Shechem, the prince of the land. This story is told in Genesis 34.

The Debate Over Interpretation

Roughly 50% of English translations explicitly reference the act as rape or an act of force in Genesis 34:2. The next most common translation is humbled, followed by defiled.

Yet, there are some who believe Dinah was not raped.**[3][4]** This belief informs the basis of The Red Tent, a fictitious retelling of the story from Dinah’s perspective.[4] Those who do not believe she was raped generally use this to paint an oppressive and sexist image of Christianity—after all, the response of Dinah’s brothers over the act is even more shocking if the act was consensual! To be honest, if you read the passage with the understanding that Dinah chose to have sex with Shechem willingly, it gets pretty muddy… Fortunately, there is quite a bit of evidence that the act was not consensual and Shechem in fact raped Dinah—so we should not be reading it as though it was consensual premarital sex..

The Translation

If we look at the original Hebrew, I think the key word to be focused on is לָקַח. This is the original Hebrew word translated as “took” in the KJV. It has a few different meanings, but most center around taking or seizing.[1] While it is sometimes used in the phrase “took a wife,” we know that Shechem did not take Dinah as a wife, because after the fact he asks his father to go get her as a wife for him.

Another word we should look at is עָנָה. This is the word translated as humbled, defiled, etc. It is generally translated throughout the Bible to mean to afflict, deal harshly with, or defile.[2] In Exodus 22:22 (also written by Moses), this word is translated as afflict:

Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. Exodus 22:22 KJV

Together these words imply harm was done to Dinah.

The Reaction

Somehow, Jacob learns of what happens. In The Red Tent, Dinah stays in the palace, leaving Shechem and his father to sort out the mess, but in Genesis, it seems Jacob knows about the ordeal before Shechem’s father arrives. This leaves the possibility of a distraught Dinah being the one to inform the family of what happened.

Regardless of how Jacob and her brothers learn of the incident, no consequences are laid on Dinah and that is significant. If you look in Genesis 38, when Judah finds out that his son’s widow is pregnant everyone goes straight into accusatory mode. Those delivering the message call her a whore and a prostitute. Judah suggests she be put to death! Remember that Judah is one of Dinah’s full brothers. Genesis 34:7 tells us Jacob’s son—which include Judah—were grieved to hear the news. No one is angry at Dinah; no one discusses putting Dinah to death; and we see Dinah is still with the family in Genesis 46.

About three months later Y’hudah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been acting like a whore; moreover, she is pregnant as a result of her prostitution.” Y’hudah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned alive!” Genesis 38:24 CJB

Those who argue that Dinah was not raped, often rely on the assumption of mistreatment of women to support their position. In this interpretation of the events, the focus is on the men of the family because the woman is merely an object that has been “ruined.” Women who were not unmarried and not virgins, whether by choice or not, were considered defiled—it was difficult to find a husband for such a woman and the bride price was considerably lower. Shechem and his father offered to pay whatever they asked, however, which means they could have still received whatever dowry they had been planning for and she would still be married. Some may argue that if word went around about the premarital sexual encounter the family would be shamed, but there are several issues with that logic.

1. The same people argue that sexual encounters were “normal” among Canaanite women; they contend that the phrase “to visit the daughters of the land” is to condemn Dinah and link her to the Canaanite women.[5] However, if it was “normal” behavior in the society, who would shame them? Today, it is very common—almost expected—that people have sex before marriage, so unless you are in a closed group within society, no one would bat an eyelash.
2. Shechem was not just any man, but the prince of the land. Accepting his marriage proposal would not only have resolved the issue of not being able to find a suitable husband for Dinah, but it would have made her a princess. Even if people had something negative to say, it would have been unacceptable to speak of Shechem’s bride in such a way, and may have even been punishable by death.
3. If the sex was consensual, the story quite parallels Esther. One would be naïve to think the king did not sleep with each of his potential brides before deciding if he would marry them or not. This means Esther’s story plays out quite similarly; the only difference being that her guardian was aware of what was happening before the fact. Nonetheless, it does not appear that any shame is brought upon Esther or her family for the unorthodox way she becomes queen.

Dinah’s Voice in the Story

A whole chapter in Genesis is dedicated to the tragedy that occurred to Dinah. Yet, unlike Esther and Ruth, we never really see Dinah; the whole chapter is told from the point of view of her father and brothers. Both her personality and reaction are completely obscured from us, which could lend to many different interpretations.[5] As a woman, it’s easy to get annoyed at what seems like silencing Dinah’s voice in the matter. I’ve actually spent years contemplating this story and why we aren’t given more of her perspective.

Personality Doesn’t Matter